A Wells Fargo branch in Daytona Beach is one of the first branches nationwide where workers have publicly filed a petition to unionize with Wells Fargo Workers United, a labor union affiliated with the Communication Workers of America.
Two of the bank's branches in New Mexico and Alaska similarly petitioned for union representation last month, as part of an organizing campaign that bankers say has been years in the making in an industry that's historically been hostile to unions.In a major victory for the union, workers at the Albuquerque, New Mexico, branch voted in favor of unionizing on Wednesday, making Wells Fargo the first major U.S. bank with a unionized workforce at one of their branches.
“We want better, we deserve better,” Corinne Jefferson, a banker for Wells Fargo at the Daytona Beach branch, told Orlando Weekly in a phone call earlier this week. “There's all kinds of things that workers need — not just with Wells Fargo, across the U.S. — that they're not getting,” said Jefferson, who’s originally from the more labor-friendly state of New Jersey.
Jefferson has worked at the Daytona Beach branch for about three years, but is a 13-year Wells Fargo veteran who moved to Florida from her home state. Prior to her work for the bank, she worked in the casinos in Atlantic City — a union-represented job.
Jefferson, raised in a union family, knows the difference a union can make in the workplace, especially when there are concerns among employees that an employer doesn’t sufficiently address. At her branch, that includes issues like understaffing, which has increased her co-workers’ workload and led to longer customer wait times, and subpar health and retirement benefits. “Something’s got to change, because the companies are not doing it for the workers anymore,” said Jefferson. “Somebody’s got to stand up to these companies.”
Wells Fargo so far is the only major U.S. bank where a wave of unionization is on the horizon, but workers involved in the union drive say they hope to spur a broader movement. “Our victory today is the first of many to come,” Sabrina Perez, a senior premier banker at the Albuquerque branch, said in a statement. “We are igniting a fire and showing our colleagues across the industry that not only is change possible, it is within reach.”
“One by one, we can get this done.”
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Workers at the Daytona Beach branch have asked Wells Fargo to voluntarily recognize their union, which would allow them to avoid going through an election process. Wells Fargo, the United States’ fourth-largest bank, with nearly $2 trillion in assets, has not complied.
Jefferson is one of five bank workers at the 1302 W. International Speedway Blvd. branch in Daytona who are vying to join the union. It’s a small but mighty unit. All five employees signed a letter addressed to Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf earlier this month, notifying him that they’d formed a union and that they “look forward to working with you to create a more equitable work environment that more accurately reflects the contribution that branch workers make to the success of the company.”
Altogether, Wells Fargo employs some 200,000 employees across the United States. Just a tiny fraction have publicly voiced their intent to unionize, but Jefferson says there are more branches that aren’t far behind. “One by one, you know, we can get this done.”
Jefferson herself began organizing with the Committee for Better Banks, a coalition of bankers and labor organizations, about five years ago after scandal after scandal rocked the bank. Over the years, Wells Fargo has come under fire for opening up millions of fake accounts, maintaining allegedly discriminatory mortgage practices, scheduling fake job interviews in an effort to increase diversity numbers, and more recently, violating their workers’ federally protected right to organize and form a union.
The bank, which has already enlisted the help of lawyers from the notoriously anti-union Littler Mendelson law firm, has been aware of the national organizing campaign for over a year. Back in April, Bloomberg reported on an internal Powerpoint presentation shared among Wells Fargo’s leaders that voiced concern over the bank employees’ organizing efforts with the Communications Workers of America. The bank has reportedly drafted plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to address “pain points” voiced by employees, such as staffing, in order to discourage unionization.
Wells Fargo has laid off thousands of workers across the country in recent years, including 103 workers at an Orlando office. More layoffs, according to CEO Scharf, are likely to come.
Jefferson shared that staffing was one of her branch’s major concerns. “We’re very short-staffed. We're doing not just our jobs,” she said, “but other jobs that we didn't have to do before, and not seeing any type of pay increase for those jobs.”
Her location only recently got a branch manager to help oversee operations. The issue of chronic understaffing, however, creates longer wait time for clients, as the bank workers, paid hourly, scramble to juggle their many responsibilities. Jefferson said they sometimes have to skip lunch breaks or stay late to complete their tasks. Customer service, workers wrote in their letter to bank CEO Scharf, suffers as a result.
On their minds, too, are benefits such as health insurance and workers’ retirement benefits. “Our health insurance is so high that I have co-workers that are not able to go to the doctor because they can't afford their deductibles,” said Jefferson. “I have co-workers that have lived out of their car because their pay is not keeping up with inflation.”
Rent and housing costs in Florida have soared in recent years, leaving working families and adults on a fixed income in a precarious position. To the detriment of homeowners, Florida’s property insurance market is also in peril. As of last year, Florida had the third-largest homeless population in the United States — a population that includes children and working adults who are couch-surfing, sleeping on sidewalks or in cars.
“They absolutely can take care of the employee,” Jefferson said of Wells Fargo. “And they’re not.”
As Wells Fargo rings the “union drive is coming” alarm bell at a pitch only their executives can hear, Jefferson said even in Daytona, they’re seeing signs that the bank is worried a vote to unionize is imminent.
Wells Fargo, she said, flew in a “business executive consultant” from New York who’s been handing out flyers with ominous warnings about unionization. At first, Jefferson thought she was Human Relations. Then she looked the woman up: Shelley Boland is a labor relations consultant, employed by Wells Fargo, who previously directed “labor strategy” and “contract management” for the Macy’s department store company, which has a bargaining unit of union engineers.
“They're not really giving true information,” Jefferson said of the flyers. “It's kind of just trying to discourage the employees to kind of back down.”
In a statement, a Wells Fargo spokesperson told Orlando Weekly, “We respect our employees’ rights to vote for union representation. At the same time, we continue to believe our employees are best served by working directly with the company and its leadership.”
“Employees should have all the facts and perspectives at their disposal on any important topic. That is why we are communicating with our colleagues — just as the union has done,” the statement continued. “We want people to make an informed choice. As we stated before, we want to continue to work directly together with our employees.”
Although she herself has experience with unions, Jefferson admitted that going public with a union drive — even discussing the prospect of unionizing in a state like Florida — can be daunting. “At first it’s a scary thing, to stick up for yourself when you see something is wrong.”
But with the proper tools and resources from the Committee for Better Banks and the CWA, she says her co-workers have seen the benefits of a union.
For years, Jefferson went the proper route of voicing her concerns and complaints to Wells Fargo through employee surveys they sent out — but she doesn’t feel like they were heard or addressed.
Those who bank with Wells Fargo, she said, can go into branches and bring up the union, in case employees aren’t aware of the drive. In a message to her fellow employees at branches across the country, Jefferson said she wants others to not feel scared to consider joining the union. The Committee for Better Banks has a website and a private Facebook group where employees can find more information.
“They have a voice, and they should use it,” she said.
Just one day after workers in Daytona Beach announced plans to unionize, on Dec. 8, a fourth branch in California joined in, too.
According to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union elections, the election at the Daytona Beach branch is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2024.
This story has been updated to clarify that labor consultant Shelley Boland is employed by Wells Fargo (and not an outside consultant hired through a firm).
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